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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
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The ailing Valley View High School pool is temporarily closed. School board directors unanimously voted Wednesday to decommission the natatorium and preserve the area until funding becomes available
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Editor: Sen. Bob Casey has been promoting the extension of the Social Security payroll tax reduction by 2 percentage points as a means to address our fiscal problems. This hurts working people rather than helps them.

While it puts a few dollars in the pockets of working people today, it harms them in the future. The reduction takes more than $100 billion this year and last year out of payroll tax revenues. If, as called for in legislation, general funds are used to make up this loss in the trust fund, it adds to the deficit. Thus, it threatens a program working people are "entitled" to because they paid into it.

Working people built this country, not the wealthy and corporations. Politicians who indulge in fear-mongering with the "fiscal cliff" nonsense and propose to inflict suffering on working people to address deficits had better follow Willie Sutton's direction and look to "where the money is." The wealthy, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, investment banking and defense industries have grown fat in the 21st century while wages and benefits have remained stagnant.

Changing the deal with the working people of this country is unacceptable.

Social Security and Medicare can be addressed by putting money into them, not by taking money from them. Remove the cap on the Social Security payroll tax.

Providing Medicare for all instead of mandating the purchase of inferior insurance policies will reduce health care spending by 20 percent by eliminating the overhead generated by for-profit insurers. The money is there to address the deficit.

It has to come from where the money is - tax the wealthy and the corporations. Yes class warfare exists. It is a war on working people carried out by corporate control of the institution of government.

JAY SWEENEY

FALLS, WYOMING COUNTY

Teacher clicks

Editor: The Lakeland High School students' reaction to the school district's failure to hire Joseph Lemoncelli, a long-term substitute, tells me he might be a very talented educator ("Teacher not hired; students protest" Dec. 5).

If that is the case, the Scranton School District should start making a serious inquiry into securing Mr. Lemoncelli's services.

That was quite a demonstration put on by the student body and a very strong indicator that there was something special going on in Mr. Lemoncelli's classroom.

An effective management team through teacher observations and evaluations should have picked up on this teacher's potential. Management could then have recommended that the school board hire the teacher for the open social studies position. That may have been what happened.

However, the school board does the hiring, and if high student achievement is not an agenda goal, then hiring effective teachers will not be a priority.

If Mr. Lemoncelli is the real deal, then he is the type of teacher most associated with high student achievement. Hiring only highly effective classroom teachers is the fundamental element in attaining and maintaining a high achieving education system. Countries at the top in student achievement, like Finland, recognize this. Teacher selection is given the most consideration when they develop and implement education plans and policies. School districts like Lakeland and Scranton don't even have this concept on their radar.

Inept political leadership in some school districts is the driving force behind low achievement. As a result, effective teachers like Mr. Lemoncelli, and students like the great kids at Lakeland High School, get sloughed off because they are not the priority. This should not be.

I feel the administration handled the situation admirably. Get Mr. Lemoncelli in Scranton.

JAMES DOUGHER JR.

SCRANTON

Buddy system

Editor: It is a shame that Joseph Lemoncelli did not get the teaching position at Lakeland School District.

He is a young man who was more than qualified, went beyond the call of duty and was absolutely loved by all of the students.

Here it is again. It's not what you know, but who you know.

REGINA L. KOZEL

SCOTT TWP.

No search

Editor: I am disappointed that the Riverside School Board renewed Superintendent David Woods' contract for another five years.

He had nine months to move to the district from Reading upon his hiring in June of 2008. The board allowed him to operate in violation of that contract until October when he allegedly attained residency in Moosic by renting a property from then school board member Tim Lavelle.

Why didn't the board post the position and seek a local candidate? We should try to take care of our own. I am offended the board feels no one locally is capable of leading the district.

With a salary of $110,000, it is not too much to ask that the superintendent live in the community.

The board should be ashamed of itself. Every vote at the last meeting was unanimous except for the new member who abstained. They just go with the flow, I guess.

EUGENE GALLAGHER

TAYLOR

Sacred turf

Editor: As the clock ticked down on Dunmore's 40-19 victory over Bellwood-Antis and the Hershey Kisses flew from the stands, security guards and faculty from Central Mountain lined the fence simply to prevent the Dunmore crowd from rushing the field. Why?

As one can expect, many students simply jumped over the fence and tried to get to their beloved Bucks.

What transpired next was amazing.

Several of the guards and faculty grabbed, pushed and tackled these kids, simply to prevent the celebration on the field. I asked one of the guards what the issue was with the kids storming the field, and was told "that field is expensive; we can't have those kids on it." Really? It's a field. It's meant to be played on, trampled on and used. Central Mountain should be embarrassed.

The win was one of the most important events these players have been part in their short lives. Their friends and families simply wanted to celebrate it with them. What harm could have come from it?

My oldest son plays football for Susquehanna University. They play on a field that was built from a gift of millions of dollars from a supporter of the university. On freshman orientation day, I witnessed hundreds of students playing "Simon Says" on that field. Guess what? The field was perfectly fine for the football game the next weekend.

The PIAA should consider this the next time it chooses a site for such a big game. If the field at Central Mountain is that special and precious, leave it empty the next time. The policies and actions of the people running this event were childish and embarrassing. They displayed exactly what high school athletics is not about.

SCOTT SAWKA

DUNMORE

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